AUGUST 24, 2004

The Toyota drive

Although there is talk of three drivers still being in the running for the second Toyota drive next year, our sources continue to suggest that a deal is done with Jarno Trulli and that the Italian has withdrawn from other negotiations because he knows that he is going to be at Toyota next year. The team's managing-director John Howett continues to say that there are three drivers in the picture: Trulli, David Coulthard and Olivier Panis and one must presume that there is some reason to say this. It is easy enough to explain why the team might want to keep Panis keen and motivated and why announcing that negotiations are still in progress would put pressure on Trulli to be less demanding with his salary demands. We continue to believe that there is some form of signed deal with Trulli although there may still be negotiations with Jarno.

However as Jarno has stopped talking to other teams and is not even being mentioned in connection with the available drive at BAR (or Williams, depending on who you think will win Jenson Button).

There is little real logic in trying to hide a signing in order to motivate a current driver as any driver who is looking for work next year is going to 100% motivated anyhow.

If anything a driver might even go faster when he knows he is out of work and needs to find a job!